08-12-2008: Fear ensures loyalty!

Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.

--- Nicolo Machiavelli: The Prince

This is an old and true rule, and now fear even becomes better. A recent paper published in Science titled "The Long-Run Benefits of Punishment" tells us a story about how fear can make a group of people share "common good". In the past, reports pointed that heavy punishment is not a good way to control order among some people, but this one opposes this opinion, and declares that those results are artefacts made by short time and small number of participants (in the experiments). For me, I not only agree with the new discovery, but also suppose that fear is infectious and contagious. Anyways, people always take the things agree with themselves and denies those don't, and so do I.
The paper: Science 5 December 2008:Vol. 322. no. 5907, p. 1510